News in Brief

The continuing role of landfill disposal within UK waste management has been confirmed with the opening of two new landfills by waste firm Onyx.

The first site opened last month at Croft Farm, near Doncaster, while a second will open at Albion in Leicestershire in two weeks' time.

The Albion site will have a capacity of 3.9 million cubic metres and is licensed to accept non-hazardous municipal and commercial waste. The Croft Farm facility has void space for two million cubic metres of material in a 10-year lifespan.

Onyx chief executive Cyrille du Peloux commented: “These are two very important developments for us and we are pleased to be able to provide not only a safe and necessary disposal option for each area, but also to be able to restore the land after its use for potential agricultural and woodland habitats.”

Warwick-based Dennis Eagle is to provide a new fleet of vehicles for Cleanaway's new collection and recycling contract with Amber Valley district council.

Dennis Eagle is providing 18 new vehicles for Cleanaway to use in Amber Valley

Ten refuse collection vehicles will support the alternate weekly collection of wheeled bins while dry recyclables will be collected with eight vehicles fitted with the Terberg Matec multi-compartment Kerbsider body.

This will allow the district to collect paper, glass, card and cans collected fortnightly using two boxes and a blue bag for paper – in order to help the council meet its 25% recycling target for 2006.

Norman Thoday, Dennis Eagle’s managing director of commercial operations said: “Having already worked with Cleanaway earlier in the year with their fleet contracts in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and Tunbridge, Dennis Eagle is delighted to continue its association with them, this time in Derbyshire.”

The new fleet will cover a total of 53,000 properties across the district.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy is calling for nominations from the recycling sector for the Public Servants of the Year Awards.

There are now just four weeks left to nominate public service workers – both individuals and teams, with the entry deadline November 25.

Past winners of the awards include Exeter's senior waste management officer, Liz Poulter, and Hyndburn borough council's environmental maintenance manager, David Allonby.

Finalists of each of the 13 categories will be notified in March 2006 and will be invited to attend the awards ceremony hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald, at London's Grosvenor House Hotel in May 2006.

Taunton’s MP Jeremy Browne has officially opened the new Priorswood household waste recycling centre.

Taunton MP Jeremy Brown (next to plaque) with Wyvern MD Andrew Olie at the new Priorswood centre

The Liberal Democrat MP unveiled a plaque to declare the new centre open on Friday. He said: “I am delighted to be opening this facility, which will improve the service to local people and help them to recycle more effectively.

“It is a huge improvement over the old site and something that the company is justifiably proud of.”

Waste firm Wyvern has invested 1 million in the site, improving the collection facilities, expanding the range of materials collected and providing more space for the public.

A new road layout has also been built to make access to the site easier and safer. The centre is located next to Wyvern's recently-opened 800,000 materials recycling facility.